In a post today on its Windows Phone developers blog (which we first spotted on BGR), Microsoft says it's seen a "sustained 40% increase in Windows Phone app submissions." As a result, the people in charge of approving apps for Windows Phones won't be taking time off over the holidays to ensure as many apps as possible get approved.

Yes, that 40% figure is a bit odd since we don't know when the bump in app submissions started or how many submissions Microsoft normally receives. But it's safe to assume the increased interest is due to the recent Windows Phone 8 launch on some nice phones like HTC's Windows Phone 8x.

On the other hand, the trend is still for developers to make their apps for iPhone and Android first, only moving to Windows Phone if they have enough resources.